Past champ Lisa Gutermuth keeps a
close watch on Board member Bruce Monnin as he passes her.

Defending champ Matt Evinger (right)
made good on his promise to return to defend his title, but his
heart wasn't in it ... playing in only one heat whereas Danny
Lewis not only played in all three heats, he was also the first
to enter. Persistence pays off.

And a Child Shall Lead Them ......

Three
preliminary heats were held again with a total of 17 5- or 6-player
preliminary games played. Tables were randomly assigned six players,
with five players being the fallback position when numbers did
not provide even six-player multiples. Six races were run again
for each game. Stats from these t7 games were:
Minimum score for win: 30
Maximum score for win: 44
Average score for win: 35.82
Minimum score for second place: 27
Maximum score for second place: 36
Average score for second place: 30.29
Twice, we had to resort to a tie breaker to decide who
won.

In two of the 5-player games, the bank car (aka non-player
car) won the race.

The winner of the Geico "Don't call us, we'll call you"
Award for most cars lost to spin-out, blown engine or crash"
prize goes to Tom McCorry, who had a total of six cars knocked
out, with two races where he lost both cars.

From these17 games, only half of the winners and runner-ups
appeared for the semi-finals. This put us one short of the perfect
field of18 so we regretably had to dismiss the two lowest scoring
alternates to reduce the field to15 players, giving us three
tables of five racers each with first two gadvancing to the Final.
The scores for the six qualifiers were:
Katie McCorry - 41 points
Ed Bielcik - 33 points
Brandon Bernard - 31 points
John Speck - 30 points
Danny Lewis - 30 points
Chris LeFevre - 30 points

This qualified Katie and Brandon for the Final for the second
straight year. There has never been a repeat champion in the
event and with defending champ Matt Evinger failing to advance,
that would remain true in 2007. So, back-to-back laurels is nothing
to sneeze at.

Katie took the points lead by winning Race 1, with Danny finishing
in second and John Speck taking third and fourth place. Two cars
were knocked out; Chris blew an engine and Katie spun out in
her second car.

Brandon scored big in race #2 with a first and third,
with Ed taking 2nd and 4th. The first crash card was played as
the last card by Chris. This knocked out cars from John and Danny's
team. A third car was lost to spin out on Katie's team. The score
after two races was: Brandon 16, Katie 12, Ed 10, John 8, Danny
6, Chris 0.

The third race was spared any crash. Two cars were knocked
out with Ed's team losing one to a blown engine and Katie one
to a spin out. This looked to be a trend for Katie as she has
lost three cars to spin out in as many races. Her father, contemplating
the issuance of a dreaded learner's permit in the near future,
looked grim. Danny had a first place finish, with Katie's remaining
car taking second, Chris finally got on the scoreboard with a
third while John had to settle for fourth and sixth. The score
was now: Katie 18, Brandon and Danny with16, Ed and John with12,
and Chris 4.

Ed lost the only car in race 4 to a spin out. Danny, enjoying
great success from his booster seat, finished first again, with
John getting second, Brandon third, and Ed fourth. The score was
now: Danny 26, Katie 21, Brandon 20, John 18, Ed 15, and trailing
the pack, Chris with 4. It was still anyone's game for all but
Chris as the leaders remained closely grouped behind the diminutive
Lewis.

Chaos reigned in race 5 with four cars taken out. Chris and
Katie lost cars to a crash, while Ed blew an engine and John
spun out. This enabled Danny to add to his lead with a first
first and fourth. Brandon took second and sixth, with Chris in
third place. Danny jumped to a commanding point total of 39 with
his third straight won race. Brandon had 27, Katie 23, John 18,
Ed 15, and Chris 8 with but one race to go.

Ed mounted a serious charge to claim second overall with a
first and second in the final race. Although Danny did lose a
car with a blown engine, his overall lead was insurmountable
and his remaining car took fourth place for good measure. Katie
kept her trend going by losing a fourth car to spin out and adjourned
to study her driver's manual. The tally at the end was Danny
42, Ed 31, Brandon 28, Katie 23, John 20, and GM Chris bringing
up the rear with 12. The crash card was only played twice in
the game; as the last card played in the second race and in the
final card round of the fifth race.

But, we had made history with Danny Lewis becoming the youngest
winner, at age 10, to take a shield in a century event. Congratulations
to Danny who now taces the prospect of being a hasbeen at the
ripe old age of 11. But that's a problem for another day. For
now rejoice in the need to push your dad's plaques off the mantle
to make room for the family's newest Centurion.

And thanks to Ron Wuerth, who stuck around for the Final
to answer any questions raised while the GM participated in the
Final.

GMT has reprinted Formula Motor Racing and had them
available for sale in the dealers room which should help renew
interest in this event for some time to come.